Tesla Sales Stopped in Hong Kong After Electric Car Tax Break Scrapped | Business Insider

July 11, 2017July 11, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Hong Kong government’s decision to scrap a tax break for electric vehicles has had a dramatic effect on sales of Tesla cars in the city, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Data analysis from The Journal has shown that zero new Tesla Model S sedans and Model X SUVs were registered with the transport department in April, after the vehicle-registration tax waiver for electrics was discontinued at the start of that month.

Following that, just five privately owned electric cars were registered in May.

The Journal reported a sales surge just before the April 1 rule change, with 2,939 Tesla vehicles registered in March and nearly 3,700 entering the department’s books for the first quarter of 2017. The end of the tax break was announced in February.

Seven Steps to List Tour LA

July 9, 2017July 9, 2017 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

Lydia List Tour We have had the privilege and pleasure of presenting our program, ‘Seven Steps to Success’ at the List Tour event in Los Angeles and San Diego We look forward to presenting at again this coming September.

The ‘Seven Steps to Success’ is a practical, intuitive method that you can use to obtain any goal, but in the case of the List Tour, which is full of entrepreneurs, we focused the discussion on starting and growing a business. The seven steps: idea, visualization, thoughts, actions, methods, friends and circumstances drive home the point that you can only do so much on your own and that the circumstances of success are brought to you by friends. You attract these friends by your methods: how you will make your product or service, how you will attract your customer, how you will make your operations efficient.

The premise is that people follow people who know where they’re going; they invest in people who know what they are doing.

In both presentations, we were pleased by the energy and the depth of the questions. The Peter List Tour presentation will inspire you to start or continue your journey toward the freedom of business ownership.

LaTonya Washington, the founder and operator of the List Tour assembled a great group of presenters who delivered information and inspiration around a number of business topics. It is a fun day full of valuable and immediately usable information.

We will be at the next List Tour event in Los Angeles. If you are an entrepreneur or want to be one, you should not miss this event.

OfficialTheNationalListTourLydiaPeterMehit

The Petya Plague Exposes the Threat of Evil Software Updates | WIRED

July 7, 2017July 7, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

ON THE LIST of computer security advice standbys, “update your software” ranks just below with “don’t use the password ‘password.'” But as the cybersecurity research community gets to the bottom of the malware outbreak that exploded out of Ukraine to paralyze thousands of networks around the world last week—shutting down banks, companies, transportation and electric utilities—it’s become clear that software updates themselves were the carrier of that pathogen. Cybersecurity analysts warn that it’s not the only recent incident when hackers have hijacked software’s own immune system to deliver their infections. And it won’t be the last.

Sony to produce vinyl records again after 28-year break | CNN Money

June 30, 2017June 30, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One of the world’s biggest record labels is going retro.

Sony Music Entertainment said this week it will begin pressing vinyl records again, ending an almost three-decade hiatus.

A dramatic increase in demand for vinyl music in recent years prompted the move, a Sony spokeswoman said. Interest is coming from younger customers who have never used records before as well as older fans, she added.

Sony whose artists include Adele, Beyoncé and Daft Punk — ended production of vinyl in 1989 after CDs cornered the market.

Credit Karma touts $500 million in revenues | TechCrunch

June 28, 2017June 28, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It turns out that you can make a lot of money by giving stuff away for free. That’s the lesson from Credit Karma, which today is announcing that it’s running its business profitably after earning $500 million in revenues last year.

Credit Karma launched to help consumers better understand their finances and to provide access to better financial products. Its flagship product is a free credit report and credit monitoring service, which it launched five years ago. Since then, the company has signed up more than 70 million users, which includes about one half of all millennials in the U.S.

‘Vaccine’ created for huge cyber-attack | BBC News

June 28, 2017June 28, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Security researchers have discovered a “vaccine” for the huge cyber-attack that hit organisations across the world on Tuesday.

The creation of a single file can stop the attack from infecting a machine.

However, researchers have not been able to find a so-called kill switch that would prevent the crippling ransomware from spreading to other vulnerable computers.

Experts are still unsure about the attack’s origins or its real purpose.

Amazon Buying Whole Foods: An Industry Shudders | Fortune.com

June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For years, Amazon has been the specter looming over retail, as once-dominant department stores and specialty chains fell on harder and harder times. But up until now, the e-commerce titan has managed to irrevocably alter the industry without making much of a dent in retail’s biggest moneymaker of all—the $800 billion grocery business.

That changed on June 16 when Amazon announced its intention to acquire Whole Foods, the upscale supermarket chain that played a pivotal role in taking organic and natural foods mainstream. Whole Foods itself may have been under duress, pressured by an activist investor and softening sales, but the healthy-food movement and the meticulously curated store experience that it pioneered is alive and well. “Amazon is placing its bet on the future of the food industry,” says Errol Schweizer, a former Whole Foods executive who is now an industry adviser, “and they see Whole Foods as the leadership.”

Here’s What Publicis’ CEO Has to Say to Critics of His One-Year Ban on Award Shows | Adweek

June 23, 2017June 23, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

CANNES, France—Publicis Groupe’s Arthur Sadoun knows he’s pissed off a lot of people this week, and he’s keenly aware that his competitors are pouncing on it. But he’s holding firm to his controversial decision to ban award show entries across his network’s many agencies for one year.

In a candid interview with Adweek in Cannes, the newly elevated CEO responded to his critics while also sending a message of commitment to his 80,000 employees.

“It’s a tough decision to make, clearly,” he said. “But we believe if we’re really committed to creativity, which we are, it’s time to reinvent the tool that will celebrate and foster creativity tomorrow. This is what we’re doing.”

Art Fight! The Pinkest Pink Versus the Blackest Black | WIRED

June 22, 2017June 22, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

HOW MUCH MORE black could Vantablack be? The answer is none. None more black.

This stuff is the blackest black. It is so black that it makes reality look Photoshopped. Perception of depth and dimensionality disappears into a scotoma of darkness. You look at Vantablack, but nothing looks back at you.

That’s not why Vantablack caused an uproar last year. It was supposed to be a specialty product for aerospace and optics. But then engineers at the English company Surrey NanoSystems, the place that invented Vantablack, figured out a cheaper, spray-on version.

Suddenly it wasn’t just for techies anymore. Now, theoretically, it could be for anyone. Even artists. Before 2016, Vantablack was a technology. After that, it was a color. And people take colors very personally.